Latching device



United States Patent LATCHING DEVICE Harry A. Knaul, Pittsburgh, Pa.Application April 9, 1957, serial No. 651,737

' 4 claims. (ci. 292-241) This invention relates to a lock, latch orfastening device of a type to be used with a keeper part to securetogether a pair of adjacently-positioned sash, rail, frame or othermembers, such as window members, and particularly to a device of a typethat functions through its operating stem to produce a tighteningwedging action.

The present construction relates to a type that represents a highquality device for safe and sure burglarproof usage and which has highposition-retaining strength characteristics and, at the same time, has asmooth and easy type of operation.

This application is a continuation-in-part of my copending applicationSerial No. 519,597, entitled Latch and led July l, 1955, now abandoned.

I have found that the keeper and particularly the latch parts have albetter strength and otherwise better conform to requirements when madeof cast metal. However, I have encountered difculty in endeavoring toprovide a suitable fastening device having a latch part, due to thelimitations as to cast shapes and particularly, due to the difliculty ofnot only making a substantially hollow or partially closed-in-shape, butin suitably internally machining such a shape to meet requirements.

Previously, I developed the principle of providing a locking type ofwedging action against an outer side face of the latch housing toprevent an unauthorized opening or releasing of a latched relationshipbetween a latching part and its associated keeper part. Although I foundthat a supporting boss projecting downwardly from the top of a supporthousing body was suflicient for mounting and operating an ordinarylatching part or element, with the advent of an external,wedging-locking type of device, I determined that the outside-appliedwedging action tended to impose a lever action upon the stem thatcentered or concentrated about the connecting portion thereof that liesadjacent to the operating handle.

In a later improved construction, I conceived the idea of providing ahousing of one-piece construction having vertically spaced-apart oropposed upper and lower mounting portions for the stern and a latchelement operated thereby. As a result, a two-point area of support wasprovided. The upper point was provided by mounting of the stem withinthe latch housing. The lower point Was provided by a cooperating boss onan opposed bottom portion of the housing and which engaged within thelatch element, itself. Thus, the stem has, through the latch element, aspaced-apart support that eliminates breakage and importantly, thepossibility of a burglarinspired unlocking when the device is in a fullyor partially latched position.

Although those skilled in the art have felt that it is necessary to havethe support applied directly to the operating stem, I found that evenbetter results were obtained by a so-called indirect, two-Way mounting,as effected through the latch element, etc. It iirst appeared to bedesirable to provide a latch housing made up of a onepiece constructioncomprising a wedge-locking upright side wall, and opposed top and bottomwalls. However,

due to the sloped semi-circular nature of the upright side wall and theneed for only a small, one-side opening in the housing body (for thelatch to engage the keeper), the casting operation became too intricateand expensive for production-line manufacturing techniques. Also, toomany rejects were produced, and another problem was raised.

This latter problem involved the need for internally machining-down andproviding a relatively accurate bearing face between at least a bottomface of the latch element and an opposed supporting face of the bottomwall of the latch housing. This was found to be essential to provide asmooth and easy operation of the device by an authorized operator, andin spite of a relatively greater weight and strength of structure. Inthis connection, a smooth, planar bearing under face-to-facerelationship between the latch element and the bottom wall or supportwas found to be necessary. In this way, the bottom support is notprovided alone by a limited or banded area, but by a maximum area, asrepresented by the fiat or bearing bottom of a latch element. A furtherand highly important factor was found to arise from the standpoint ofstrength of and the aligned accuracy of the dual-support for theoperating stem.

It has thus been an object of my invention to develop a new and improvedform of latching or fastening device which will meet the limitingfactors heretofore encountered and which will at the same time provide anew strength, safety and ease of operation;

Another object has been to not only prevent or minimize cross shear orlever action on a localized area of an operating stem for a latchingdevice, but to do so Without the necessity for an initial one-piececonstruction of latch housing with respect to its bottom wall;

A further object of my invention has been to develop a latch housingconstruction that may be made of any suitable material and that isparticularly adaptable for the use of cast parts, although not limitedthereto;

These and other objects of my invention will appear to those skilled inthe art from the drawings and the specification.

In the drawings,

Figure 1 is a side view in elevation looking from av keeper-latching oropen side of a mounted vlatching device constructed in accordance withmy invention;

Figure 2 is a bottom plan of the latch part of Figure 1 and taken alongthe line II-II thereof; in this View, a latch element of the latchingdevice is in a partially latched relationship with respect to a latchlug of a keeper;

Figure 3 is a vertical section taken along the line III- III of Figure 4and on the same scale as Figures l to 4;

Figure 4 is a top plan View of a bottom plate member or wall element ofthe device of Figure 3; this element is shown in an at leastsemi-permanently, integrally mounted relationship with respect to ahousing body in the construction of Figures 1 and 2;

Figure 5 is a fragmental vertical section taken in the v direction ofline VI*VI of Figure 2, on the same scale. as 'that figure, and showingthe housing body preliminary' to the mounting of the under-plate memberor element;

Figure 6 is a sectional fragment in elevation taken along the line VI-VIof Figure 2, showing the integrally assembled and secured relationshipof the housing body and its under plate member or element.

In the figures, liti represents a window sash, rail, door frame or othermember of a pair of adjacent, relativelyv movable members that are to besecurely latched and locked together. A keeper part 11 is secured in asub-l stantially lush relation on one of the adjacent members bysuitable means such as flat head screws 12 and has adownwardly-projecting latch lug 1lb (see Figure 2) to cooperate with andlatch-receive a latching element of an adiacently-.pcsitioned latchingor fastening .device 13. The device 13 has a one-piece housing body partprovided with a pair of oppositely-projecting mounting feet, lug or tabportions 1321 that`have a common face planel Each of the tab portions13a has a pair of staggered mounting holes to receive suitable securingmeans, such as at head screws 19. The means 19, as shown in Figure 1,project into the other adjacent member 10.

The keeper part 11 is Ynot new to my present construction and a typesuch as shown in Figures 2A, 3 etc., of my Patent No. 2,135,105 may beused.`

The housing body or part 13 of the latching device 13 has an upright orupwardly-projecting, enclosing side wall 13b of semi-circular shapeabout the part that is only open to and along the keeper 11. A top wall13e projects substantially horizontally from and over the upright orvside wall 13b tov define a top enclosure for the one-piece housing bodyconstruction. A bearing support, mounting boss or inward projection 13don the top wall serves as an upper support bearing for an upper annularor circular journal portion or area 14a of an operating stem of anoperating means comprising a handle I14 and a stem extendingsubstantially at right angles or perpendicular therefrom.

Downwardly beyond the portion 14a, the stem has an angular, rectangularor square portion 14b to be cooperatively received within acomplementary bore 15b of similar shape within latching element 15. Thelatching element 15, as shown particularly in Figures l and 2, has alatching surface wall 15a of increasing spiral height about a centralspiral-like groove portion 15b. The portions 15a and 15b are those whichcooperate with latch lug 11b of the keeper 11 to provide an increasingwedgingholding action as" the device or its handle 14 is movedcounterclockwise in Figure 2.

It will be noted that the complementary bore and stem portions 14b and15b of angular section assure a positive turning of the latch element,irrespective of whether or not set screw 16 is tightened down. Thefunction of the screw 16 is thus merely a superficial positioning one,as distinguished from a locking and a latching one, as would be the casewere the bore of the latch element and the cooperating stern portion ofthe handle of circular shape.

Referring particularly to Figures 3 to 6 inclusive, the housing bodypart 13 has an especially constructed bottorn side, such as to form aninset or under-set seating, mounting rim for a separately formed, shapedand conditioned'bottom plate part, member or element Z0. By making thepart or plate member 20 separately, its inner face may be shaped andfabricated accurately and machined and honed down to Yprovide a lowfrictional resistance or effective bearing type of support surface tojournal the bottom face or end of latch element 15, Machining and othertypes of operations may be readily effected on the inside of the memberor element 20 and a suitable fitted relationship between it and thelatch element 15 may be accomplished before the plate 20 is permanentlyor semipermanently secured in an inset relation as an integral part tothe under-shelf or ledge of the housing body 13. The bottom face of theplate 20 is then ush with o1' on the face plane of the mounting tabs 13a(see Figure 6).

To provide a secure and positive as well as an aligned mounting of Vthebottom plate member 20, I form a pair of downwardly-projecting pins,tits, nubbins or rivet extensions l3h. As a result, the element ormember 2l) may be accurately seated so that mounting holes 2Gb in themounting tabs 20a tit on the projections 13h to thus provide aligningpairs between the members 13 and 20. In this connection, the bore of theholes 2Gb will very closely approximate the outer diameter of theprojec* tions 13h which are of annular or rounded form. Thus, as shownparticularly in Figure 6, the projecting ends of the rivet portions 13hmay be hammered or peened down flush into suitably enlargedhead-receiving outer portions of the holes 20h.

As shown particularly in Figures 3 and 4, opposed or opposite mountinglugs 20a which carry the holes 2012 also enable the plate member 20 tobe accurately aligned and to be easily fitted into and out of theunder-opening in the bottom of the heusing body 13 during the procedureof machining d cgwn,` smoothing-off or honing the inner surface toreceive and form a lower bearing, directly for the latch clement 13, andindirectly for the lower end portion 14b of the stem. It also makespossible a substantially liush anda secure and fool-proof mounting ofthe member 20 from the standpoint of positively preventing a thief fromgougingout wood tothe under-portion of the housing part, and thenwithdrawing the bottom plate downwardly in order to weaken the holdingaction of the latch part.

The latch element 15 has an inset journal portion or enlarged under-bore15a that is open downwardlyl to receive and rest upon anupwardly-projecting bearing boss portion 20c of the member 20. It isapparent that the boss 20c, in cooperation with the portion 15a, ineffect provides the alignment or turn axis for the handle 14 of theconstruction. As shown particularly in Figures 2 and 4, the location -ofthe axis aligning boss 20c is offcenter with respect to the housing body13, as well as with respect to the outer or inclined wedge surface ofthe upright or side wall 13b. i

This makes possible an increasing wedging action on the outer face 13bby turn-lock or adjustment screw'18, as is occasioned when the 'handle14 is turnedgclockwise of Figure 2. In operation,` the screw 18(assuming that the latch operating arm is tothe extreme right of Figure'2, so that the forward end of the latch element 15 has engaged with orhas been stopped by limit wall or stop portion 13e) need only touch thesurface or face 13b. This is true, since any attempt to move it towardsan unlatching position will cause it to dig-in or wedge tightly. This isalso true, since in elect, an increasing projection of wedging surfaceis provided by the offset mounting of the latching element 15 withrespect to its housing body 13. i

Thus, in accordance with my invention, I have been able to provide alatch construction or fastening device whose housing body, in its finaland completed form is integral in nature, and is of -substantiallyVone-piece construction. As preliminarily formed, the latch housing bodyis of two parts of a closely-interlitting, flush type and one of whichdefines an opposed bearing boss or mount with respect to the other, andby which the stem of the operating arm is positively andsecurely-operatively positioned therein. The latch element 15, itself,is of somewhat thickened wall structure, to not only increase itsstrength from the standpoint of its latching action with the keeper lug11b, but also from the standpoint of its utilization as a connecting andcounter-pivot, counter-lever-action or shear-resisting member betweenthe stem and particularly, the top and bottom walls of the housingconstruction. y

The under-fitted relationship of the bottom plate element or wall membernot only complies with an irnportant factor or requirement, namely afully flush mounting of the latching device on its sash or mountingmember ltl, but also by the employment of projecting, rivet head pins,provides accurate means for aligning, positioning, and mounting theunder-plate 20 as well as for securing it to the housing body 13 in asomewhat permanent manner, and in the manner that will adversely resistany attempt by a thief or burglar to remove it.

What I claim is:

l. A fastening device for locking a pair of adjacently movable sash orlike members in a secure relationship with respect to each other,wherein a keeper-is to be mounted on one of the members and thefastening device 1s to be mounted adjacently thereto on the other memberwhich comprises, a one-piece housing body, said housing body having foottab portions to secure it on the other member in a cooperatingrelationship with the keeper, said housing body having a substantiallysemi-circular slde wall portion projecting upwardly from between saidfoot tab portions and being open towards the keeper, said housing bodyhaving a top wall portion positioned over said side wall portion, abearing mount in said top wall portion, an integral operating parthaving a handle and a stem projecting substantially perpendicular tosaid handle, said stem being constructed to project downwardly throughsaid bearing mount and being journaled therein adjacent said handle, alatch shoulder element to be operatively mounted on said stem downwardlyof said bearing mount within said housing and having a wedge-shapedlatching surface to project through the opening in said side Wallportion and latch with the keeper when turned into position with respectthereto, a bottom plate member having an upper bearing face and anupwardly-projecting bearing boss, pairs of cooperating aligning portionsbetween said bottom plate member and said housing body, said bottomplate member being integrally mounted in an inset position on saidhousing body between said foot tab portions with its aligning portionsin a cooperating relation and in a substantially llush relationship withbottom faces of said tab portions to provide a bottom wall portion forsaid housing, said latch shoulder element having an axial boretherethrough to receive said stem therein, -said bore and said stemhaving cooperating portions to nonturnably secure said latching elementon said stem, said latch shoulder element having a bottom bearing facejournaled on the upper bearing face of said bottom plate member, and anupwardly-offset bearing enlargement in the bottom of said latch shoulderelement in substantial alignment with -said bore to receive within andto be journaled on said bearing boss when said bottom plate isintegrally mounted in its inset position on said housing body.

2. A. fastening device to be used with a keeper to be mounted on onemember of a pair of adjacent relatively movable members to be latched inposition with respect to each other which comprises, a one-piece housingbody having a pair of oppositely-projecting foot tab portions on acommon bottom face plane to receive mounting means and secure saidhousing body on the other member, said housing `body having asubstantially circular upright enclosing wall projecting from said foottab portions and having an open side towards the keeper, said housingbody having a top wall closing oif said upright wall and having anaxially-offset open portion therethrough, a bearing boss mounted aboutsaid open portion, a bottom plate member having an axially-oiset bearingboss projecting upwardly therefrom and having a pair of mounting tabs,said housing body having an inset mounting rim on its under-side that isinwardly-offset with respect to the face plane of said mounting tabs,means projecting from a bototm portion of said housing body andcooperating with the mounting tabs of said bottom plate to-secure saidbottom plate as an integral part of said housing body in an opposedrelationship with said top wall, a latching element of curvilinear shapehaving a wedging face to engage the keeper, an angular bore through saidlatching element, an operating means having an integral handle and astem projecting perpendicular thereto, said stem having angular portionsto cooperate with and fit within the angular bore of said latchingelement, so that a rotation of said handle will positively turn saidlatching element, said latching element having an open under-bearingrecess portion therein in substantial alignment with said angular boreto receive the bearing boss of said plate member and rotatably restthereon, and an upper face of said bottom plate and its bearing bossdetning bearing surfaces with a bottom face of and said under-bearingrecess portion of said latching element.

3. A device as detined in claim 2 wherein, the upright enclosing wall ofsaid housing body has an inclined outer surface, and a locking elementis adjustably carried by said handle to engage the inclined outersurface of said upright enclosing wall to lock said latching element ina latching position with the keeper.

4. A fastening device as defined in claim 3 wherein, said means thatprojects from the bottom portion of said housing body comprisesdownwardly-projecting pins, said bottom plate member has a pair ofopenings through its mounting tabs to receive said pins, and said bottomplate member is securely-integrally held in position within said housingbody by rivet heads on said pins.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,258,617 Knauff Oct. 14, 1941 2,385,350 Dady Sept. 25, 1945 2,613,526Holmsten Oct. 14, 1952

